


The Peace and Order of the Altean Empire.

by JennaJay



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Alternate Altea, Alternate Universe - Canon, F/F, F/M, Guns of Gamara, Memory Loss
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-17
Updated: 2017-10-04
Packaged: 2018-12-30 16:31:16
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 13
Words: 10,753
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12112716
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/JennaJay/pseuds/JennaJay
Summary: The alchemist Honerva comes out of cryo-sleep after 10,000 years with none of her memories and finds herself falling in love with an Altean general.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Crackship? Yes.  
> Am I going to write this ship and gut-wrenchingly seriously as I'm capable of doing? Also yes.

Honerva stood in her lab, poring over facts and figures on a holographic screen. She sifted through the data from the rift and her experiments on quintessence. If she could just puzzle her way through it, she might be able to discover another piece of this energy’s near-limitless potential. Zarkon stood beside her, a hand placed gently on her shoulder. 

“I understand that you want to continue with your research, Honerva, but you must realize that you can’t keep pushing yourself like this,” he said. “Your expression is always stressed, and you’ve lost weight. I’ve consulted with many Altean doctors, and they all agree that what’s happening with your facial markings is definitely not normal. You should rest. Maybe even spend some time in a cryopod so that whatever’s happening to you can be reversed before it gets out of hand.”

Honerva scowled. “I must continue with my research. Every moment that I spend outside of the lab is a moment wasted. There’s so much to be discovered here. The research I’m doing is going to change everything we know about the universe.”

She heard Zarkon sigh. Before she knew it, she was pulled into his arms. 

Zarkon looked down at her, a small, pained smile on his face. “Listen, Honerva. I’m well aware of how important your research is, but you need to take a break.”

“But-”

“Let me finish,” Zarkon said. “That doesn’t mean that I want you to stop researching quintessence entirely. I know how important alchemy is to you. What I’m saying is that you need to think of yourself for a moment. If you overwork yourself and fall ill, how will you be able to do your research then?”

Honerva sighed and stared longingly at her work station. She was so close.

But she had to admit that he had a point. She hadn’t felt fully rested in years. Her hands had started shaking whenever they weren’t occupied with something. Late at night, she sometimes thought that she heard whispering coming through the rift. Her body had been telling her to take a break for a long time now, she just hadn’t been listening.

“But who will do research if I’m stuck in a cryopod?” She said.

“I will.” Zarkon said.

“You?” Honerva said. Zarkon had been a leader and a warrior his entire life, not an alchemist.

“I’ve been watching you do this work for years, and you’ve left plenty of notes on your future experiments. I can handle it for a little while. Don’t worry. You just come back once you’re well rested.”

Honerva sighed. “Alright. I suppose that I could use a break,” she said.

“Excellent!” Zarkon said. “I’ll arrange for your transportation to Altea. The cryo-healing should only take a few months at worst. After that, you can return here. It’ll feel like you never even left.”

Honerva took a long look at her work station. She could already feel it calling for her to come back and do more research, but Honerva forced herself to look back at Zarkon. “That sounds fine. Just be careful. We still don’t know what quintessence is fully capable of. 

“I will. Don’t worry, Honerva.”

\--------------

The front of the cryopod melted away and Honerva stumbled forward onto a dark floor. Her head throbbed. She tried to stand up straight, but her knees wouldn’t work like they were supposed to. Everything was spinning. Distantly, she was aware that she was falling to the ground, but she was too weak and disoriented to do anything about it.

She felt solid hands grab her by the shoulders and gently lower her to the ground. She heard a voice that sounded far away as if it was coming from behind a wall. Honerva forced her eyes open and looked around at her surroundings despite the splitting headache it gave her. 

She could make out cryopods, dark walls that soared far above her head, and a few blurry, armoured Altean-ish blobs huddled around her.

The voice was clearer now. Honerva could make out some of the words, “cryopod was damaged...definite injuries...no sign of aging...”

Were these people talking about her? She tried to sit up, only for a bolt of pain to blaze through her entire body. She gasped and fell back to the ground, banging her head against the floor and sending another wave of pain and nausea through her entire body. 

“You’re hurt. Don’t try to move. That might just make it worse,” an Altean said. Honerva forced her eyes in the direction of the voice. An Altean woman with short, purple hair and light green facial markings looked down at her. 

“Who are you?” Honerva managed to ask.

“I am General Hira,” the woman said. “Although, who you are is more important. Tell me your name.”

“It’s...Honerva.”

General Hira nodded. “You will need medical attention. Do you have any relatives that we could contact?”

Honerva tried to think. No one came to mind. She shook her head only a millimeter to each side. It was too painful to do anything more, but General Hira seemed to understand. She stood up to address the other Alteans there as darkness descended upon Honerva from all sides.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like constructive criticism!


	2. Chapter 2

Honerva could feel a soft mattress beneath her body. She forced her eyes open and winced at the too-bright daylight that was coming through a large window. She was laying on a white bed in a small room with an IV drip inserted into her arm. She sat up gingerly. Her head wasn’t throbbing anymore, and her dizziness was almost entirely gone. 

“Oh, good. You’re awake.”

Honerva turned to see General Hira standing rigidly near the window. “What happened to me? Where am I?”

“We found you injured in a damaged cryopod, so we brought you to a proper medical facility. That was a couple of movements ago. You’ve been fully healed but resting since yesterday. How are you feeling?” 

Honerva pressed a hand to her forehead. Nothing hurt. She didn’t have any fever or nausea. At worst, she was a little groggy from sleeping for so long. 

“I feel fine, but I don’t understand,” Honerva said. “How did this happen? Why was my cryopod damaged?”

General Hira sighed and sat down in a chair at Honerva’s bedside. “Honerva,” she began, tone somber. 

Honerva stiffened. Why did she feel like she was about to receive some very bad news? 

“What is the last thing that you remember before you went into the cryopod?” General Hira asked.

Honerva tried to recollect what might have happened, but her mind came up blank. “There’s nothing. At least, nothing that I can remember. Why do you ask?”

General Hira sighed. “The doctors were afraid of this. Spending so much time being ‘healed’ by a malfunctioning cryopod is bad enough. Add your already existing injuries to that, and you get a recipe for a serious case of retrograde amnesia.” 

Honerva clenched her fist and tried to remember something, anything. Nothing sprung to mind. Not even a faint sound or a slight feeling.

She might have things like a home, close friends, or even a family, but she couldn’t even remember them because her cryopod had malfunctioned. She didn’t feel any strong emotion at that thought. It was hard to be sad when you couldn’t even remember what it was that you’d lost. But still, she felt a vague sense of emptiness and loss at the idea that she might once have had something in place of the blank slate that her memories were.

“Exactly how long was I in the cryopod?” Honerva asked.

General Hira glanced away from Honerva. “The cryopod said that it had been running for the past ten thousand years. Which, it seems almost impossible, I know. But the underground facility you were in was very old. It was in a part of Altea that had been mostly destroyed by the Galra Uprising ten thousand years ago and then built on top of. The only reason we managed to uncover you was because the Guns of Gamara bombed a nearby armoury and the blast opened up a hole into the old underground buildings.”

“Ten thousand years,” Honerva said. “That means that everyone I might have known before is...dead?” Honerva asked.

General Hira nodded. “I’m sorry. This must be very troubling for you. I wish that I could do more to help, but I’ve already told you everything that I know.”

Honerva sighed. “Thank you,” she said.

A beeping noise came from the door and a white-haired man in an Altean military uniform came through the door, carrying a small tablet in his hands. “Commander Hira. I’ve managed to compile some data on the comet sample that we managed to get.”

General Hira nodded and took the tablet. She pulled up a holographic screen of numbers and long pages of information. Honerva looked at the screen for a moment. “Oh, are you researching quintessence?” She asked.

General Hira and the other Altean froze. “Do you recognize what this is?” General Hira asked, passing the tablet to Honerva.

Honerva glanced over the data and nodded. “These readings are definitely from quintessence,” she said. “It doesn’t seem like you have very much of it, though.”

General Hira and the Altean exchanged a glance. “We only just discovered this element. How do you know what this is?” General Hira asked.

Honerva turned back to the data. It all seemed so familiar. There was an outlier here that looked like someone had made a common mistake in taking the measurements. In some of the other data, Honerva could see the almost imperceptible fluctuation of energy that was characteristic of quintessence. This information made perfect sense to her.

But as hard as she tried, she couldn’t recall how she had become so familiar with quintessence.

“I have no idea why I know this,” Honerva said.

General Hira sighed. “You must have been a talented alchemist in your time. It seems like you may be able to help us here if you would be willing to lend your expertise.” She stood up and offered a hand to Honerva. 

Honerva took it and pulled herself out of bed. Her legs were a little weak and wobbly from disuse, but she managed to remain standing with General Hira’s help.

“We’ll get you situated in your new quarters. After that, I can show you the laboratory where we are studying the new element,” General Hira said.

Honerva nodded. “I would be happy to help with the research in any way I can,” she said.

General Hira smiled. “Then it’s settled.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like constructive criticism!


	3. Chapter 3

It took Honerva a couple of days to fully settle into her new home on an Altean battleship. It was a small, single room that had anything she could ever think of needing, along with several newer technologies that she didn’t recognize. All of this courtesy of the Altean military.

She tried to tidy up the room a bit in order to kill some of her boredom while she waited for General Hira to come fetch her. Of course, it was already in pristine condition so there wasn’t much that she could do. The Altean military obviously had high standards.

It didn’t take long for Honerva to start getting cabin fever. She crossed her arms and paced back and forth in her room before finally resolving to go find General Hira and ask directions to the lab. She wasn’t going to stay in here when there was research to be done. Especially when the research was about quintessence. 

She walked out into the halls of the ship and looked from side to side. She had no idea where to go to find either the laboratory or General Hira. 

Well, there was no point in just standing here. Either she’d find one of the places she wanted to go, or she’d get lost. She was confident in her sense of direction, though. She could find her way back to her room if she couldn’t find the general or the lab.

She walked down the hallways, carefully checking the names of the rooms as she passed them. These were all soldier’s quarters. She needed the laboratory.

She took an elevator up a few levels and continued her search there. She was so absorbed in trying to commit the ship’s layout to memory that she almost walked right into General Hira.

“Oh, Honerva,” General Hira said.

Honerva jerked in surprise. “General Hira, I was just looking for you.”

General Hira raised an eyebrow. “You were?”

Honerva nodded. “Could you point me in the direction of the laboratory?”

“Of course,” General Hira said. “I was just about to come find you to show you there myself. In any case, it’s good to see you up and about so soon.”

Honerva followed General Hira until she finally reached a large laboratory in the lower levels of the ship. She glanced inside. Beakers, machines used for measuring electromagnetic energy, and various simple handheld tools were scattered across cluttered countertops. 

In the center of the room, a rock with veins of a blue mineral was suspended in a cylinder. The man Honerva had seen with General Hira earlier was standing in front of it with a machine in his hands. Next to him was a large, light green man with a piece of Altean technology implanted into his head. Honerva watched him for a moment, but he simply stared at a spot on the wall without moving a muscle. Something seemed off about him, but Honerva couldn’t quite put her finger on it.

General Hira walked into the laboratory, and Honerva followed behind. 

“Ah, Honerva,” the Altean man said. “It’s nice to have you working here.”

Honerva nodded, but simply continued looking at the man with the implant in his head.

General Hira noticed her staring. “Oh, non-cogs have only existed since after the Galra Uprising. I suppose that you would not be very familiar with them.”

“Non-cog?” Honerva asked.

General Hira nodded. “In the past, many races were forced to fight against each other because of their warlike natures. This implant, the hoktril, saps their fighting spirit, allowing them to become peaceful citizens of the Altean empire. Citizens like Moxilus here are known as non-cogs.”

Honerva looked up at Moxilus. He blinked once, but his stare remained blank. “I...see,” she said.

General Hira walked over to the rock in the cylinder. “It is a shame what we only managed to get a small portion of the comet. I am afraid that this sample is all that we have for you to research.”

“That’s fine,” Honerva said. She gathered up a few select tools from the countertops. “Where should I start?” 

\----------

Honerva took a deep breath of the fresh air of Altea’s mountains. Soft grass and purple juniberry blossoms shifted under her feet. It was nice to be planetside for once. Normally, she would have holed herself up in the lab to do research, but today her work required that she head back to Altea for a change.

The scent of juniberry blossoms wafted through the air. She could feel a faint tug in her mind at the smell, but she didn’t bother pursuing it. Whenever she felt something that seemed like a memory, it always slipped away from her no matter how hard she tried to hold on to it, leaving her frustrated and angry. The memories would come back at their own pace, or she would never get them back. Either way, she would focus on the present and just let her research take her where it may. There was no point worrying so much about something beyond her control.

Still, it was nice to know that there was something familiar to her about Altea, even if it had been at least ten thousand years since she last set foot here.

General Hira walked beside her, carrying several small vials for Honerva’s research.

“Quintessence is so much more amazing than any one of us could have ever imagined it to be,” General Hira said. “Our research has only lasted a few phoebs, yet our military technologies have made already leaps of progress that would have required hundreds of deca-phoebs of research otherwise.”

“It truly has limitless potential, doesn’t it?” Honerva said.

General Hira nodded. “It would seem so. We have not even come close to discovering what it is fully capable of. This energy source is going to change the very fundamentals of almost everything within the Altean empire. The work you are doing has been indispensable. We are fortunate to have stumbled across such a talented alchemist.”

“Thank you. It’s been quite a pleasure to do my research,” Honerva said.

“I’m glad to hear it,” General Hira said. “At any rate, you said that you had developed a method for extracting quintessence from sources other than the comet sample?”

Honerva nodded. “It’s highly experimental, and it isn’t likely to produce much even if my method is successful.”

“That’s fine. Any quintessence we manage to obtain will be immensely useful.”

“Right.” Honerva grabbed a vial, took a deep breath, and crouched down to the ground. She threaded her fingers through the long, dewy grass and closed her eyes.

She used her magic to feel the lifeblood of the plants. The blades of the grass, the petals of the flowers, the network of roots connecting them all, they all became part of her for one ethereal moment.

Then, Honerva tugged on that lifeblood with all of her might. The grass turned dry and crumbled beneath her fingers, but the lifeblood flowed toward her. She heard General Hira gasp, but focused on drawing the lifeblood closer until it had all gathered into her palms.

She opened her eyes. All of the grass and flowers surrounding her had turned into blackened, crumpled shadows of their former beauty. A few small specks of blue energy rested in her hands.

General Hira leaned over to take a closer look. “Is that...quintessence?”

Honerva nodded and scrambled to grab the vial so that she could siphon the quintessence into it. Once it was secure in its container, she stood up and turned to General Hira. “I can’t believe that it worked this well on my first attempt,” she said.

“You’ve found a way to harvest quintessence,” General Hira said. “This is...this is amazing! There was talk of making weapons and ships that would be so much more powerful than our current ones if only they were powered with quintessence. The only barrier was the fact that our supply of quintessence is extremely limited. Well, _was_ extremely limited. There are so many options available to us now. Honerva, just think of the potential!”

Honerva smiled and nodded. “We are not done yet, General Hira. We still have much more quintessence to gather if we are going to fuel those weapons and ships of yours.” She pointed at all of the empty vials that General Hira was still holding in her arms.

“Right. We should get to work,” General Hira said.

Honerva gave a nod and walked over to another patch of flowers to begin the extraction process once again. 

She felt General Hira’s presence next to her as she was about to harvest more quintessence. “You know, It’s fine if you call me just ‘Hira,’” she said.

Honerva took a moment to consider this. “Alright. Hira, could you pass me a vial?” She held out a hand.

“Of course.” Hira gave her another small vial, and Honerva went right back to work extracting quintessence.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like constructive criticism!


	4. Chapter 4

Honerva and Hira were both working to tidy up the ship’s laboratory after a long day of experimentation. Honerva had just made a breakthrough that allowed quintessence to be refined into a purer fuel source, but in the course of making that breakthrough she had accidentally blown up part of the lab. She hadn’t been injured by the explosion, but it was quite the mess to clean up.

Hira swept some glass shards into a dustpan. “Exactly how much more potent is the refined quintessence?”

Honerva smiled. “Roughly two hundred times if my theories are accurate.”

“Two hundred…” Hira stopped in the motion of sweeping and her mouth fell open just slightly. “Honerva, a single drop of that could carry a large battleship all the way across the known universe.”

Honerva nodded. “Other researchers are looking into using quintessence to power advanced weaponry. With this new energy source, you can easily spread the Altean peace movement to every corner of the universe.”

Hira smiled. “Just think of all the potential quintessence has. Any opposition we may face could be crushed almost immediately with this power. Honerva, you’re amazing.”

“Thank you.” Honerva’s work was done for the day, and Hira was almost done tidying up, so she decided that she should head to her quarters and get some rest. 

She felt a hand on her shoulder as she turned to leave the lab. 

“Honerva,” Hira began.

“Yes?” Honerva asked.

Hira took a deep breath. “Honerva, you are an incredible alchemist. Working with you has been wonderful. We have discovered and accomplished so much together. I can't help but think…” She took one of Honerva’s hands and held it in her own. “Honerva, would you...would you be my better half?”

Honerva glanced from Hira's hand to her expectant face. “Hira, you are a wonderful general, and I too have enjoyed our time together no matter whether we were doing research, harvesting quintessence, or discussing your work spreading Altea’s peace.”

“So...Is that a yes?” Hira asked. Her mouth was creased into a worried line as she waited for Honerva’s answer.

Honerva smiled. “Of course it is. I’d be glad to have you as my better half, Hira.”

She felt Hira move her hands to pull her into a hug. 

“Thank you,” Hira whispered.

Honerva nodded and pulled Hira close. “I wouldn’t have it any other way.”


	5. Chapter 5

Honerva sat at the table of the small kitchen in Hira’s quarters. She had several holographic essays pulled up around her and was looking through them one after another.

She felt Hira place a hand on her shoulder and lean forward to look at the holograms. “Are you still reviewing data from your experiments?” 

Honerva shook her head. “These are about Altean history. I figured that I should get caught up on everything that’s happened in the past ten thousand years.”

“I was wondering when you were going to do that. If I had been stuck in a cryopod for so long, I would have done that as soon as I possibly could.”

“Well, I meant to do this sooner, but I’ve been rather busy with my research.”

Something thumped on the table next to Honerva. She glanced away from the holograms to see a mug of steaming, brown liquid resting next to her arm.

“You seem tired. I figured that this would help,” Hira said. She wrapped her arms around Honerva and pressed a kiss to her temple. “Be careful not to overwork yourself too much on your day off. I wouldn’t want you to get sick.”

Honerva felt that tugging in her mind again, but she just turned back to the essays. There was so much that she needed to learn if she wanted to understand how the Altean empire had gotten to where it was today. 

“Hira, it says here that the planet Daibazaal was destroyed by the Alteans, causing the Galra Uprising. But it also says that the Alteans assisted in evacuating it because of seismic activity that threatened to tear the planet apart. What exactly happened there?”

Hira frowned. “These essays are a little ambiguous, so I think I will give you a summary of the events myself. Although, some of the history is more legend than fact, especially where Emperor Zarkon was concerned, so take it with a grain of salt.”

“You see,” Hira continued. “Legend has it that Zarkon had been doing research on Daibazaal when he suddenly fell ill. When he had finally recovered from his illness, he was changed. His mind had suffered damage. Eventually, King Alfor approached him concerning the seismic activity happening on Daibazaal. Normally, they would have been able to work through the issue because of their close alliance. In fact, the alliance was so close that rumor has it Zarkon even took an Altean for a wife. But in the end, the alliance was completely worthless to him. Zarkon had become even more blind to reason than the Galra usually were.”

“King Alfor took it upon himself to evacuate Daibazaal and destroy it in order to protect the Galra. But instead of being grateful, Zarkon raised an uprising. King Alfor was killed by Zarkon which meant that Empress Allura had to take the throne. She squashed the uprising and took Zarkon’s head herself, ushering in ten thousand years of Altean peace. And there you have it. The history surrounding the Galra Uprising.”

Honerva nodded. “That all makes sense, but why destroy Daibazaal if the only problem was seismic activity that would have already torn the planet apart?”

Hira shrugged. “The reason for that has probably been lost to history.”

“I see,” Honerva said. She finished skimming through the essays and pulled up some of her research. One of her latest experiments was to look at the effects of quintessence on cells grown in petri dishes. She had the beginnings of a theory about the true nature of quintessence, and this experiment would help lend evidence to it if her hypothesis turned out to be correct.

As she looked across the images, the tugging in her mind began again, but more insistent than it had ever been before.

\-------

She sat on a soft couch with a colorful box resting in her lap. She glanced at the box before picking it up and rattling it to judge the sound that it made. “Is it ok if I open it?” She asked. 

A tall, Altean man glanced out from behind the camera he was holding. “Go ahead, sweetie.”

Honerva furrowed her brow and opened the box. What she saw inside made her heart leap with joy. “Is this a microscope?” 

Her father nodded. “What do you think of it?” He asked.

She pulled the microscope out of the box and looked through the lens. She didn’t have anything to look at yet, but she amused herself for a moment by switching between the different magnifying lenses with a grin of pure glee on her face. 

“This is amazing!” She said. She leapt up and threw herself at her father, wrapping her arms around his neck and pulling him to the ground in a hug. “Thank you so much. This is the best birthday ever!”

She squeezed him even tighter to prove her point when she heard a light chuckle coming from behind her. She turned around to see a woman with soft features looking down at her with a smile on her face. “Come on, don’t I get hugs too?” She asked.

Honerva nodded and scrambled to give her mother a big hug. “Thank you thank you thank you thank you!” 

She gave her mother a tight squeeze and then dashed off to grab a small cup from her room. She sprinted back to where her parents were sitting with bemused expressions on their faces.

“Come on,” she said, grabbing each of her parents by a hand and dragging them out the door.

She led them down to a nearby pond and scooped a cupful of water out of it before dragging them back home again.

She went right over to her microscope, pulled out some of the slides that came with it, and dropped a few droplets of water onto them. She wasted no time in sliding them under her lens so that she could take a good look at them.

“Woah, this is so cool! There are so many things moving in there. Look! One of them even has a little tail! They’re called flag- flaggle-”

“Flagella, sweetie,” her mother said.

Her father walked up behind Honerva and patted her on the head. “That’s our little alchemist for you. You’re going to do great things one day, Honerva. I’m sure of it.”

\--------

Honerva found herself on the floor of Hira’s kitchen. Hira was leaning over her, face creased with worry. “Honerva! Honerva, what’s wrong? What happened?”

Honerva pushed herself into a sitting position. “I...I remembered my parents!” She said.

Hira’s worry melted away to be replaced with a wide grin. “Your memories have started coming back? That’s wonderful! Here, sit up. Tell me everything you can recall.”


	6. Chapter 6

In the weeks that followed, Honerva stopped ignoring the tuggings in her mind. There was now hope that they could bring her memories back instead of only resulting in a feeling of emptiness and frustration. Most of them didn’t lead anywhere, but a few managed to show her glimpses of her past life. 

She caught pieces of her childhood, her awkward teenage years, and even her young adulthood. But the more she remembered, the more she realized was missing. There were gaps in her memories that must have held something once.

And whenever she caught a memory of someone she had cared about, she couldn’t help but break down in tears, knowing that there was no way they were alive anymore.

\------------------

Honerva stood in her lab, analyzing data on her experiments. Only, it wasn’t the lab on Hira’s ship. It was a different lab, but one that was just as familiar to her, if not even more so.

Her fingers flew over keys and flicked between pages of data. She was so close to a breakthrough.

She felt a presence standing behind her. “Oh, Hira-” She turned around to find a tall, Galra man looking down at her with a gentle smile on his face.

“Hello, Zarkon,” she said. 

He leaned over her to look at the data. “What new discoveries have you made today, Honerva?”

She smiled and told him of all her experiments like she had so many times before. When she was finished, he helped her tidy up her lab, just like he had always done.

As they walked home, Honerva began to feel that something was off somehow. She turned to Zarkon. “It feels like it’s been a long time since I’ve seen you,” she said.

Zarkon gave her a weary smile. “I’m sorry about that, Honerva. You know that my duties as Galra Emperor prevent me from visiting you as much as I would like to. Still, I have a responsibility to my people that I cannot afford to neglect.”

Honerva shook her head. “No, I mean that I haven’t seen you since I came out of the cryopod. It has been quite a while.”

“Cryopod?” 

Honerva nodded. “At any rate, it is nice to see you again.” She reached a hand up to cup Zarkon’s cheek and stood on her tiptoes to press a light kiss against his lips.

The world of Daibazaal shattered around her, replaced with leaping flames and the scent of smoke that burned her lungs. Honerva watched in horror, recognizing the tall buildings of Altea’s great cities crumbling around her. Screams erupted from every direction, and she didn’t know where to run or where to hide to escape this chaos.

She was vaguely aware that she was holding something in her hands. She looked down and screamed.

It was Zarkon’s head.

His eyes were empty, unfocused. His mouth hung open just like it had in the essays that Honerva had read.

Just like it had in the essays that Honerva had read.

He was dead he was dead oh god he was dead.

A cloaked figure walked toward her from the flames, sword in hand. Honerva drew back, cradling her husband's head in her arms.

Empress Allura stepped forward, cape fluttering behind her in the flames. She fixed Honerva with a cold glare. “Traitor,” she said.

Honerva tried to back up, to get away from this madwoman, but she couldn’t go any farther. Her back was pressed against a wall as Empress Allura walked toward her. She was trapped.

“Traitor,” the empress said, raising her sword in preparation to strike.

“No! Please!” Honerva said. She flung an arm up to defend herself.

“Traitor.” 

The sword swung down, but as it did, Honerva glanced to the empress’s face.

Except it wasn’t the empress’s face anymore.

It was Hira’s

\---------

She awoke in a cold sweat, panting like she’d run a marathon. 

It was dark. Her legs were trapped under a pile of sheets and blankets. She scrambled to pull herself out of bed and run somewhere else. Anywhere else.

She felt Hira shift beside her. “Honerva?” She whispered. 

Everything was coming back. The experiments. Altea. Zarkon.

Oh God, he was dead. Her husband was dead.

“Honerva, is something wrong?” Hira asked.

She leapt out of bed and dashed into the kitchen. Her heartbeat thudded in her ears. Her husband was dead.

She had just opened the door to the ship’s corridor when Hira grabbed her by the arm.

“Honerva, what happened? What’s wrong?” She said.

Honerva wrenched her arm out of Hira’s grasp and stood in the doorway. “I-I just-”

Hira sighed and stepped forward to wrap her arms around Honerva. “Listen, whatever happened to scare you so much, I can help you with it. Here, sit down.”

Hira made to lead Honerva over to the kitchen table, but Honerva didn’t budge. 

Honerva took a few shaky breaths. She could feel tears gathering in her eyes. “I think that I will sleep in my own quarters tonight.”

Honerva had been sleeping in Hira’s quarters for the past few months, but tonight she needed some time and some space to untangle the mess of thoughts and emotions that were swirling around in her head and threatening to spill out in a flood at any second.

Hira’s eyes widened, but she nodded. “Very well, if you’re sure,” she said. “Just know that you can come to me with anything, Honerva. Anything.”


	7. Chapter 7

Honerva sat in her room and just let herself remember. She just let herself remember all of the times Zarkon had smiled at her or hugged her. She just let herself remember all the days they had spent doing research together or even just walking through Daibazaal’s cities in their spare time. 

She remembered how much she had loved him, and how much he had loved her in return.

Her memories turned from grief to anger. She pulled up the essays on the history of Altea and scanned them frantically for any little piece of information that she didn’t already know. Anything that might tell her why he’d attacked Altea. Anything that might tell her why he had to start a rebellion against the Alteans-her own people-and then just die like that after everything they’d been through together.

There was no new information. Nothing told her what had possessed him to try to destroy Altea. She couldn’t even begin to imagine Zarkon, her Zarkon, turning on his own teammates just like that. But here the evidence was, staring her down in rows of words and images from ten thousand years ago. 

Why hadn’t he come for her? Had he assumed that she would be safer in her cryopod? Had he not wanted her to witness the destruction of her own planet?

She would never know. She would never see him again. Never feel his touch or hear his voice. He was gone. Forever. 

Tears ran down her face as she scrolled through the essays one by one until she came across the image that had haunted her nightmares. An image of Empress Allura raising Zarkon’s head in triumph amid the Altean buildings that had been reduced to piles of rubble and twisted metal during the uprising.

Her stomach twisted, and she dashed into her bathroom to throw up. She just sat there once she was finished, her breath coming in gasps and sobs. 

Her husband had been dead this whole time, and she had never even realised it because her stupid cryopod had malfunctioned and destroyed her memories.

Her mind turned over everything as she lay there on the cold bathroom floor. What had he thought in his final moments? Had he been in pain? Her stomach squirmed, but she couldn’t stop the thoughts that filled her mind. Thoughts of pain, suffering, fear, and hopelessness. 

She didn’t sleep that night. In the early hours of the morning, her eyes happened to glance across a clock. In a removed way, she realized that it was time for her to head to work.

She picked herself up off the bathroom floor and made her way to the laboratory as if she were on autopilot.

\-------

She gathered up her tools like she usually did. She readied her experiments like she usually did. She did everything like she usually did, even though her mind was blank and numb. She wasn’t thinking. She didn’t have to think. She just had to do her work. Maybe if she threw herself into her research, she could forget about these emotions that stabbed at her heart for just a little while longer.

She felt tears gathering in her eyes and forced herself to focus on her work.

In the back of her mind, she registered Moxilus and one of her fellow scientists entering the laboratory.

Moxilus. The hoktril. When she had first come out of the cryopod, she hadn’t thought about it much. She had always assumed that the hoktril was just one of those strange things that the future had, and it had slowly filtered into one of the many things that she considered normal. But now that she had her memories back, she realized just how insidious it was to sap the free will of another sentient being. No true Altean would have allowed something like this to happen. What had Altea come to?

She felt bile rising in her throat. There was no way that she could do research for the Altean military anymore. 

She set down her tools and walked out of the laboratory.

She ran into Hira on her way back to her quarters.

Hira tried to greet her with a kind smile, but her expression turned to worry when she saw Honerva’s face.

“Honerva, what’s wrong?”

Honerva just shook her head and tried to continue back to her quarters.

Hira stepped in front of her. “Honerva, please, tell me what’s going on.”

“I...” Honerva said. “I just need some space to think about some things.” 

Hira’s expression grew even more worried.

“Honerva…?”

Honerva pushed her way past Hira and made her way back to her quarters. She couldn’t face her right now. Not after everything she had remembered.


	8. Chapter 8

Over the past few months, Honerva’s pain at losing Zarkon had faded, although she still felt a stabbing pain in her heart whenever she saw anything that reminded her of him. She had stopped confining herself to her quarters and had begun to roam the ship in search of useful information, but she still avoided coming face to face with Hira. She wasn’t ready to face her yet. Not after everything that she had remembered.

Today, Hira’s ship had stopped at Kakkel, a planet on the fringes of the Altean empire, to refuel and restock on supplies. Honerva knew that she wouldn’t get a better chance than this.

She donned a cloak and slipped out of the ship as the crew was loading crates onto it. She only had a couple of days before the ship had to leave. It was now or never.

She made her way away from the landing bay and onto Kakkel’s streets. The moon glowed maroon above her, tugging at her memories of Daibazaal. She took a moment to savor the memories despite how their bittersweetness tore at the ache in her chest. Then she continued onward. 

Honerva passed Alteans and non-cogs wherever she went. She averted her eyes and tugged the hood of her cloak closer around her face wherever one of them walked close to her. She couldn’t afford to be recognized. Too much was at stake.

She stopped in front of a bar. The blue, neon sign above it that read “Guga’s” had two dark letters. A purple mouse squeezed itself through a crack in the wall. The bar’s windows were dark. Suspiciously dark for this time of night.

She took a deep breath, pushed the door open, and walked inside. 

The bar was clean, but most of the chairs and tables were dented or missing legs. Blue lights flickered from the ceiling. Honerva watched the purple mouse scurry behind the bar’s counter. Definitely not a place she’d be at in any other situation.

An Altean woman with green hair and dark pink facial markings stood up from behind the counter. “Hello, there,” she called. “You look like a woman who’s come to drown her sorrows. Pull up a seat. I’ll pour you a drink, and you can tell me what’s got you down.” She scurried over to a cabinet and grabbed a glass.

Honerva shook her head. “I’m afraid that I will have to pass on your offer. I have come here to join the Guns of Gamara.”

The Altean woman dropped the glass she was holding, leapt over the counter, and pressed a gun to Honerva’s throat. “How did you know we were here?” She demanded.

“I managed to get a look at the list of places with suspicious rebel activity. This bar was marked for investigation by the Altean military.”

The woman lowered her gun. “Shit!” She hissed. “Alright. Thanks for the tip. Get out of here while you still can.” The Altean woman turned to head into another room, but Honerva grabbed her by the arm. 

“I have more information. There are other places marked for suspicious activities that need to be warned, and I have classified information on the BQ-178 type warship.”

The woman froze. “BQ-178? There are only three of those in existence. They’re some of the most terrifying battleships in the entire military. How did you get that information?”

“I have connections,” Honerva said. She was well aware that she could be tried for treason for recording all of the information on Hira’s ship, but it seemed that the risk had been worth it. The Guns of Gamara could use it to fight against the Altean Empire and work to right its wrongs better than she could on her own.

The woman looked at Honerva’s face for the moment. “Fine. Come with me.” She dragged Honerva behind the counter, through a door, and down a flight of stairs.

Lights flicked on as they walked downstairs. A spaceship stood in the center of the basement. Its outer hull was rusty, and several of its lights were broken. 

Piles of guns, ammunition, and various trinkets were scattered on the floor around the ship. The woman scurried around, scooping the piles into her arms and tossing them into the back of the ship.

“Sorry about the mess. I wasn’t thinking that I’d have to leave on such short notice. Can you give me the information right now, please? There’s no time to waste.”

“Oh, right,” Honerva said. She pulled out her tablet and ejected its memory chip. “Here,” she said, holding the chip out towards the woman.

“Thanks.” The woman snatched the chip out of Honerva’s fingers. “I’ll make sure to get it to the people at HQ. Here, catch.” She tossed a gun and a tablet to Honerva and went back to gathering up assorted weapons.

“We don’t know how secure the tablet’s communications are. We have reason to believe that they’re being monitored by The Empire. Don’t use it unless you have no other choice. As for the gun, it’ll serve as your membership card into the Guns of Gamara. Don’t lose it.”

Honerva ran her fingers over the barrel of the gun. This wasn’t something that was familiar to her. She might never have held one of these in her entire life. It couldn’t be too hard to use. Just aim, pull the trigger, and kill someone.

Her stomach twisted at that thought and she hoped that it would never have to come to that. 

The woman scooped up one last armful of weapons and trinkets. “Just where is that damn mouse?” She said.

A purple mouse popped out of a Russian nesting doll in the woman’s arms.

“Alright, there. Good. Let’s go.” She turned to Honerva. “Seriously, go. You really don’t want to get caught hanging around a rebel hideout. Especially if you like having your own will.” 

Honerva nodded and dashed up the stairs out into the cool night air of Kakkel.

A roar sounded as she left, and she turned to see a spaceship hovering above her. The pilot waved at her then took off into the night sky.

Honerva sighed, hid her gun under the folds of her cloak, and walked back to Hira’s ship.


	9. Chapter 9

Hira gave a knock at the door to Honerva’s quarters. A warm, homecooked meal rested in a box in her arms. “Honerva?” She called. “I brought you some dinner if you want some food.” Every time she had spotted Honerva around the ship, her face had been creased with worry. She had been getting thinner and thinner. It had been months since they had last spoken, and Hira was practically tearing herself apart with worry. 

Honerva had never told her what had prompted her strange behavior. Hira could only hope that it wasn’t something that she had said or done, and that it was something she could help to fix if Honerva would let her. 

“Honerva?” She called again. Maybe Honerva just didn’t want to see her. But they had been so close before. What had happened?

Hira sighed. As much as she would like to see Honerva again, she couldn’t afford to keep waiting here. She had to make sure that everything was in order for the refueling and cargo transfer at Kakkel.

She set the box down at Honerva’s door and left, her gut twisting into worried knots. 

\------------

Honerva made her way down to her quarters and almost tripped over a small box when she tried to walk through her door.

She raised an eyebrow at the box, but picked it up and carried it inside with her.

The first thing she did when she went inside was stash the tablet and the gun in the most secure place she could think of. She couldn’t afford to have anything linking her to the Guns of Gamara sitting in plain sight.

The second thing that she did was set the box on her table and open it. 

The smell of meat and cooked vegetables wafted out of the box. She took a sniff and recognized it immediately. It was a dish that Hira had prepared for her every once in awhile. 

Her stomach rumbled and Honerva realized that she hadn’t eaten since two days ago. She sat down at the table and had almost started eating when she saw that there was enough food for two people, not just one.

Hira must have wanted to eat with her, but she had been on Kakkel working with the Guns of Gamara to undermine the Altean military.

Guilt twisted in her chest and she considered heading down to Hira’s quarters to share the meal with her.

Something tugged in Honerva’s mind. She remembered eating with Zarkon back on Daibazaal. She felt how much she still loved him. How much she would always miss him. He may have been dead, but her feelings for him hadn’t faded in the slightest.

But it was the same with Hira. She had brought light to her life after losing everything to the cryopod. Honerva knew that what she felt for Hira was strong and real.

But that was fine. She could love the both of them: Hira who was alive and Zarkon who was dead. Her heart was big enough for the two of them.

She sighed and stood up, gathering the box in her arms. It was time to stop avoiding her emotions and start moving toward the future.

She made her way down the familiar path to Hira’s quarters. When she reached Hira’s door, she knocked a few times. A moment later, Hira appeared in the doorway, her tired expression turning to one of joy in an instant.

“Honerva!” She said, pulling her into a tight hug.

Honerva smiled. “I thought that we could have dinner together,” she said, holding up the box

Hira pulled back and took a look at Honerva’s face. “Are you alright? It’s been so long since I’ve seen you.”

Honerva nodded. “I’m fine. Can I come inside? The food is getting cold.”

“Of course. Come in.”


	10. Chapter 10

Honerva lay in bed next to Hira. They had gone back to living together a couple of weeks after that dinner they had shared, although Honerva still hadn’t told her about her memories involving Zarkon. After joining the Guns of Gamara, Honerva didn’t want bringing up that she had been connected to the Galra. That would only make people suspect her.

She felt a hand to reach up to cup her face, and she turned to gaze into Hira’s eyes. This was nice. Just being here together like this. She wished that this moment could last forever.

Hira gave her a small smile, and guilt twisted in Honerva’s chest. She was fighting against the Altean military. She was fighting against Hira. 

But she couldn’t just let the Altean Empire keep spreading. No one with any sense of right and wrong could let The Empire keep committing its atrocities.

But, maybe, just maybe, Honerva could show Hira The Empire’s wrongs. Maybe then they could work to better the Altean Empire, together. Just like Honerva had thought she’d been doing when she had been studying quintessence.

“Hira, does something seem off to you? About the non-cogs, I mean.”

Hira shifted her arm to pull Honerva close to her chest. “Why? What do you meen? Have they started acting strangely?”

Honerva shook her head. “Their expressions are always completely blank. It doesn’t seem right or natural.”

“I suppose that you would find them strange. You are from a different time. But there is nothing wrong with them. Non-cogs always act like that.”

“But what if you didn’t have to use the hoktril? Think about it. You wouldn’t have to rob anyone of their wills. Wouldn’t that be better?”

Honerva heard Hira sigh. “Yes, it would be better. In a perfect universe, no one would have to be put under the hoktril’s influence.”

Honerva’s heart soared. “So then-”

“But we do not live in a perfect universe, Honerva. There are evil races that would gladly cause harm to you or I. The hoktril is not a perfect solution, I admit. But the fact of the matter is that we do not have a perfect solution. We must make do with what we have. At least this way, every person in the universe can coexist peacefully.”

Honerva’s heart sank. “I see.”

“You know, it is a shame that there are so many who want to fight against the peace that the Altean Empire brings to the universe,” Hira said. “Why can’t they see that the universe is better off when there is no fighting or warfare? It’s common sense.”

Honerva chewed at her bottom lip. “How about we head to sleep now?”

“You’re right. Goodnight, Honerva.”

“Goodnight, Hira”


	11. Chapter 11

Hira stood on the bridge of her ship, watching as the quintessence-fueled weapons bombarded a small asteroid with bright blasts of energy. The Altean military had been aware of strange, encoded communications coming from this asteroid. Apparently, the rebels there hadn’t been smart enough to cover their tracks.

“Their shields have failed. Should we continue bombardment?” A crew member asked.

Hira shook her head. “No. Take us close. We will raid the base and capture any rebels that we can.” 

\----------

Honerva sat in the back of a small spaceship with a few other Guns of Gamara members. No one looked at each other. Everyone was content keeping their identities a secret. Honerva especially so. She pulled the hood of her cloak lower over her face. Hopefully she could give the Guns of Gamara her research and then leave as soon as possible. It would be suspicious if she was missing from Hira’s ship for too long.

A flashing red light came from Honerva’s tablet. She pulled up a hologram to find out exactly was going on.

A nearby rebel outpost was under attack. She glanced up to the other rebels in the ship. They had the hologram pulled up too. Some had their fists clenched in anger while others just sat there, reading the hologram with faces gone pale with worry.

The man in the pilot’s chair stood up. “Alright. There’s been a change in plans. We’re going to help our fellow Guns.”

No one challenged what he said. They just readied their weapons and sat in tense silence.

They landed at the outpost less than an hour later, barely managing to stay out of sight of the Altean battleship as they made their way inside. The lights flickered on and off. Everything was deathly silent. 

“It seems like there has been an electrical failure,” Honerva said. “The bombardment must have done some serious damage.”

The pilot nodded. “It seems like everyone here is either dead, captured, or evacuated. We should focus on gathering up all of our technology and communications. We can’t afford to let anything fall into The Empire’s hands.”

Honerva looked around. The area they were in had a lot of counters and measuring equipment. It reminded her of the lab on Hira’s ship. This was probably a research facility of some sort.

“I’ll go and find the data on the experiments they were doing here,” Honerva said. She made her way down a dark hallway in search of a computer terminal.

\--------

Hira grinned to herself her soldiers led a group of rebels back onto her ship. Their minds would be scanned to determine the location of other rebel bases and then the hoktril would be implanted. It was good that these rebels had decided to surrender. It would have been a terrible loss of life if they had chosen otherwise. 

She gathered a group of soldiers around her and led them down into the bowels of the rebel base. There must be some weapons or useful information that they could find here. 

“Stay on guard. There could be more of them,” she told her soldiers, readying the small blaster in her armour in case she needed to use it.

It didn’t take them long to find a rebel. She was hunched over a computer terminal, her hands flying over the keys. The rebel stiffened at the sound of their approaching footsteps and turned to face them.

No. 

NO!

Why was she here? What was she doing in a place like this?

Hira stepped forward. “Honerva?”

Hira’s heart tore in half as she watched Honerva raise a gun to aim it square at her with a shaking hand. 

“Stay back!” Honerva warned. She glanced at the computer terminal then back to Hira’s face. Her eyes were wide. Hira could see how they darted around the room, desperately searching for a way to get out. For a way to run far away from her.

Hira lowered her blaster and took another step forward. “Honerva, please-”

Honerva gritted her teeth and jerked to look away from her. Hira just stood there and watched as Honerva shot the terminal and ran away into the dark corridors of the rebel hideout.

No. She couldn’t be here. She couldn’t be a rebel. She couldn’t be one of the enemy.

The sound of soldiers sprinting past her jerked her out of her thoughts. They were all following after Honerva.

“What are you doing?” Hira demanded.

The soldiers froze. “Shouldn’t we go after her?” One asked.

Hira scowled. “All of you, go look for the other rebels! I’ll follow this one.”

The soldiers exchanged glances. “With all due respect-”

“That’s an order!”

Hira didn’t wait for them to follow it. She just shoved past them and dashed down the dark hallways after Honerva. 

She sprinted through the base, growing more and more frantic as each turn just made her more and more sure that she had lost Honerva’s trail. Through all of her sprinting, she didn’t manage to catch sight of her even once. What she did manage to catch sight of was the rebel spaceship taking off into the vastness of space.


	12. Chapter 12

Honerva’s hands shook as she looked at the gun in her hands.

It was still in pristine condition. That was just as well. She had only used it to destroy the computer where the Guns of Gamara had kept valuable research on their own experiments with quintessence. Honerva knew that they had the data backed up elsewhere, but there was no way that she could risk letting the Altean Empire get that information. They already had too many advantages over the Guns of Gamara.

Her gun had really come through for her back there, but as she looked down at it her hands shook, her gut twisted into knots, and tears gathered in her eyes. In her panic, she had pointed this gun at Hira. Her Hira. 

And now she couldn’t go back. Her secrets had been brought to light. She wasn’t just the enemy of the Altean Empire anymore.

She was Hira’s enemy.

Her tears fell to the ground in streams at that thought. 

A light flickered on her tablet. But not the one that the Guns of Gamara had given her.

No, this was the one that Hira had given her not long after she had left the cryopod. 

Someone was trying to contact her. 

She stood up, dried her eyes, and made her way to the ship’s small bathroom. 

Honerva sighed, chewed at her lip, and accepted the contact.

It felt like someone twisted a knife in her chest when she saw Hira’s face appear on the screen. She wasn’t ready to deal with this guilt.

“Honerva, oh thank Empress Allura that you picked up. Are you alright?”

Honerva nodded. “I’m fine.”

They both sat in silence, neither wanting to acknowledge the elephant in the room, and both hoping in some small part of their hearts that if they never spoke about it, they could just imagine that they weren’t enemies.

It was Honerva who decided to break the silence. “I had the Guns of Gamara modify this device. There is no way that you can find my location from this call.”

Hira’s face turned to one of shock. “No, Honerva. I-” She sighed. “Please, I don’t know what they might have told you to convince you to join them, but these are dangerous criminals. They want to destroy the peace that the Altean Empire has worked to spread for the past ten thousand years. You don’t honestly-”

“They just want to bring freedom to the universe.” Honerva stared the hologram of Hira in the eyes. “I just want to bring freedom to the universe. No one lied to me. No one had to convince me. Hira, please, can’t you see what The Empire is doing is wrong? How is sapping a being’s free will any better than killing them? I’m choosing to do the right thing.”

Hira shook her head. “No. Please. Honerva, It doesn’t have to be like this! Just come to your senses! Do you want the universe to be thrown into chaos? Is that really your goal?” Honerva could see that tears had started trickling down Hira’s face.

“It would be better than a universe where peace only comes from stripping the wills from those who disagree with the Altean Empire!”

Hira took a deep breath. “I see. So that’s how it is.”

Honerva nodded. “I’m sorry that it had to be this way.” She was reaching for the button to end the transmission when she heard something that stabbed her heart with a thousand knives.

“I love you, Honerva. Even after everything that’s happened, I still love you.”


	13. Chapter 13

In the months that followed, Honerva threw herself into her work for the Guns of Gamara. She did research, scouting, even some sabotage. If she just worked toward her purpose, she could forget about everything she had done. All the mistakes that she had made.

But at night, she couldn’t forget. Her mind would toss and turn and she could hardly rest. She wondered where Hira was, what she was doing, if she was thinking of her or if she had decided to move on.

The thought had crossed her mind to pick up her tablet and contact Hira again, but she could never bring herself to do it. She couldn’t bear it if she saw Hira and her mind had changed toward holding bitter hatred for Honerva. 

Or worse, if Hira still wore that pained expression she had worn when she had told Honerva that she still loved her. 

So, the tablet remained untouched. 

Soon enough, the Guns of Gamara decided to attack a highly fortified Altean base, and Honerva was selected to help.

This had almost become routine for her. She had helped to infiltrate bases like this one before. This was just another mission.

Or at least, it should have been.

But all of Honervas ideas of routine were shattered when she came face-to-face with Hira at the base. 

She readied her gun, Hira readied her blaster. Both of them wore identical expressions of pain and fear on their faces. Neither wanted to hurt the other, but both had a duty. Honerva’s was to freedom, and Hira’s was to peace. 

“Hira, please. Just step aside. We don’t have to do this.”

“I cannot let you undermine the Altean Empire, Honerva. Please, just stop this foolishness and come back with me.”

Honerva sighed. She wanted to go back and eat dinner together. She wanted to study quintessence in the lab on Hira’s ship and pretend that none of this nightmare had ever happened. She wanted that so much.

But she couldn’t accept Hira’s offer. There was no way that she could live with herself if she just let the injustices of the Altean Empire continue.

“I’m sorry, Hira,” she said. Her heart twisted in excruciating pain, and tears ran down her face, but she shot at Hira’s leg, hoping to injure her just enough so that she could complete her mission here.

She managed to get a solid hit to Hira’s side, even though her hands were shaking so much that it was a miracle she could even aim. But ultimately, Hira was too quick for her despite the wound she had sustained. She managed to get a few shots of her own at Honerva with her blaster. 

A searing pain burned in Honerva’s chest. She fell to her knees, pressing a hand to her injuries. It came back stained with dark, crimson blood. 

She felt Hira rush over to her and try to hold her steady even as the world swirled around her.

Hira’s voice was distant, but she could still make out her words. “Honerva, please! Just hang on! Please! If you make it through this, we can figure this out. We don’t have to fight like this. Oh quiznak, that’s a lot of blood. Honerva, Please.” She felt Hira pressing against her wounds in an effort to slow the bleeding.

It was no use. Honerva could already feel the darkness gathering around her.

She reached a hand in the direction of Hira’s voice until she found what she recognized as Hira’s cheek. Honerva tried her best to smile, but she feared that it looked more like a grimace. 

“Hira,” she said. “I still love you, too. I wish it that hadn’t had to be like this.”

“Honerva! Please, Honerva! Just stay here…”

The voice faded until Honerva could no longer make it out. She let go and allowed the darkness to rush in at her from all sides.

\-------

After the battle with the Guns of Gamara had ended, the Altean soldiers found Hira and Honerva dead, both having bled to death from their injuries. Honerva lay wrapped in Hira’s arms while tears still ran down her face.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Any constructive criticism?


End file.
